RoyalDude wrote:Was Kovalchuk really a that special? His play definitely doesn't deserve the coin he was gettingI guarantee you Lou is happier now to be out if that contract. The Brodeur era is ending, perfect time for a rebuild in NJ. Poor Corey

Never saw much Atlanta or NJ, but from what I saw, yes, Kovie is that special. Everyone knew of his shot, but he is also a very very smart two way player. Hossa comes to mind but Kovie is a gear or two above that.

Motivation in the stereotypical Soviet hockey player sense appears to be an issue.

No question about how smart he was out there. Especially offensively. His heart was only in it about 60 percent of the time though. That kinda negated the gears he was above other players.

Gotta reach the cap floor somehow I guess. $3.3 mil for a 30 point 3rd line center. And it's not just the money but 5 years for a guy who quite honestly would stand the risk of being an after thought at this point in many organizations.

Quite shocked he got 600k more per year than Nielsen.

edit: apparently he has been playing wing the last year or so. Still, seems a somewhat strange to shell out that much money and eat up that many UFA years when he really hasn't established any consistency to his game. Is this a case of the cheap islanders shooting themselves in the foot by putting him in the NHL at 18 years old? UFA status comes early for those guys.

tantalum wrote:Gotta reach the cap floor somehow I guess. $3.3 mil for a 30 point 3rd line center. And it's not just the money but 5 years for a guy who quite honestly would stand the risk of being an after thought at this point in many organizations.

Quite shocked he got 600k more per year than Nielsen.

edit: apparently he has been playing wing the last year or so. Still, seems a somewhat strange to shell out that much money and eat up that many UFA years when he really hasn't established any consistency to his game. Is this a case of the cheap islanders shooting themselves in the foot by putting him in the NHL at 18 years old? UFA status comes early for those guys.

tantalum wrote:Gotta reach the cap floor somehow I guess. $3.3 mil for a 30 point 3rd line center. And it's not just the money but 5 years for a guy who quite honestly would stand the risk of being an after thought at this point in many organizations.

Quite shocked he got 600k more per year than Nielsen.

edit: apparently he has been playing wing the last year or so. Still, seems a somewhat strange to shell out that much money and eat up that many UFA years when he really hasn't established any consistency to his game. Is this a case of the cheap islanders shooting themselves in the foot by putting him in the NHL at 18 years old? UFA status comes early for those guys.

I'm going to guess this is another Islanders special along the same lines as the deals they signed Nielsen (2, 2.5, 3, 3.5) Okposo (1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4.5) and Grabner (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)..

Before the compliance buy out period I would have said they will probably ride these guys on cheap salaries and mid level cap hits until they start earning over their cap hit, then dump them for whatever they can - but they actually used a compliance buy out on Dipietro so I guess they may actually be willing to spend more than the minimum amount required by the CBA.

RoyalDude wrote:Was Kovalchuk really a that special? His play definitely doesn't deserve the coin he was gettingI guarantee you Lou is happier now to be out if that contract. The Brodeur era is ending, perfect time for a rebuild in NJ. Poor Corey

Hahaha - every time Washington came to town, suddenly Kovalchuk was a superstar - uncharacteristically hitting players on the forecheck, chasing down pucks, etc - it was unbelievable. Every bit as much of a difference maker as Ovechkin in those games - Kovalchuk did not like being ranked below Ovechkin among Russians.

Problem was that he didn't provide the same effort against Florida, Tampa, and Carolina, and so on... if Atlanta could have played Washington every game, Kovalchuk would have been in the Crosby vs. Ovechkin discussion.

No way Bailey was gonna let Snow dick him around like he did those others.

Don't be so sure. Note that on the page you linked, capgeek places the note "the above contract sources an external media report for its details. It will be confirmed shortly." Also in the Islanders chart Bailey's deal is listed in italics.

I've seen this with other deals and I believe what it means is that the site is missing the particulars of the contract.

Still could just be $3.3m per all the way through.. but my guess isn't necessarily wrong yet.